Ahead of Jerusalem Day, reports highlight extent of city's poverty

Tuesday, 11 May 2010 10:14

Almost three in four Palestinian children living in East Jerusalem are classified as poor and the city is still the poorest in Israel, figures released by a human rights group and the Central Bureau of Statistics show.

The figures were compiled, separately, ahead of Jerusalem Day - which begins tonight and marks 43 years since the establishment of Israeli control over East Jerusalem in 1967.

"The figures show Jerusalem continues to be the poorest city in Israel," said Israel Kimhi, of the Jerusalem Institute of Israel Studies, yesterday. "Efforts to turn this around have so far failed."

A report by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel cites severe discrimination and neglect in East Jerusalem, which is home to more than 300,000 Palestinians.

In all, nearly two-thirds of Palestinian families live in poverty, compared to nearly one third of Jewish families, according to the report, titled "Human Rights in East Jerusalem Fact and Figures 2010." Some 95,000 East Jerusalem minors (around 74 percent ) live below the poverty line, compared to about 45 percent of minors in Jewish neighborhoods, the ACRI report says.

As for the city in general, more people are moving away from it than to it, fewer people are joining the work force and the number of children in ultra-Orthodox schools is growing, CBS figures say.

Jerusalem is Israel's largest city, with 774,000 residents - roughly 10 percent of Israel's population, the CBS report says. The residents are 63 percent Jews, 34 percent Muslims, 2 percent Christians and 1 percent are not classified by religion in the Interior Ministry.